Laundry tub stand



Oct. 24, 1967 L. GERVAIS LAUNDRY TUB STAND Filed May 9, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /NVENTOR L. GERV/IIS ArroRneys Oct. 24, 1967 L. GERVAIS 3,348,798

LAUNDRY TUB S TAND Fil y 9, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR L. GERvms rromvays United States Patent 3,348,798 LAUNDRY TUB STAND Laurent Gervais, Roxboro, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Crane Canada Limited, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed May 9, 1966, Ser. No. 548,438 Claims priority, application Canada, Nov. 18, 1965, 945,711 Claims. (Cl. 248150) This invention relates to stands for laundry tubs and particularly to stands which are formed with side and end sections and are self-locking when brought together.

In the present invention the legs are spot-welded to one or other of the front or side members of the stand, and the design of the corner assembly between front and side members has been simplified in order to reduce the cost of material, to cut down on the number of forming operations on the individual parts, and to make the job of assembly easier.

The invention consists essentially in forming a pair of side frame members and a pair of end frame members, with legs secured to one or other of the said pairs of frame members. The frame supporting legs are of right angle section in a horizontal plane and are secured, through one vertical member, to the end portions of one of the pair of frame members, the end portions of the frame members beyond their attachment to the legs being offset from and parallel to the leg members to provide a vertical slot into which the right angled bent end portions of the other pair of frame members fit. The other right angle member of the legs, not attached to the frame members are disposed parallel with and outside the end portions of the other of said pair of frame members to confine the right angled end portions within the slots provided between the joined legs and frame members. An offset clip is secured to at least one pair of the supporting legs to hold the top horizontal edges of the frame members in a desired height relationship. The pair of frame members supported in position of the clips attached to the supporting legs have their top horizontal edges turned outwardly and downwardly to provide inverted U shaped slots per engagement with the top horizontal edges of the adjacent members of the supporting legs.

The lower horizontal edges of both pairs of frame members are turned inwards at right angles for added strength and to resist bending. In order to hide from view the lower portion of the tubs supported by the assembled frame the front frame member may have considerably greater depth than the side and rear frame members.

The object of the invention is to provide a laundry tub stand which can be shipped in knocked-down fashion and be assembled on site without the use of bolts or other fastening means and without the use of tools.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stand having separate side and end sections which are selflocking with each other.

A further object of the invention is to provide a selflocking stand, Which, when assembled will have a uniformly level top edge defining a rectangular opening into which laundry tubs can be seated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stand in which the weight of laundry tubs and their contents are transmitted more directly to supporting legs.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed specification and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the assembled stand, partly in section at one corner to show the interlocking of the front and side frame members.

FIG. 2 is a vertical elevation of the stand shown in FIG. 1 partly in section on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 showing partial engagement of a front or rear frame member with a side frame member.

FIG. 4 is a partial vertical section member to FIG. 3 showing the two frame members fully interlocked.

FIG. 5 is a partial horizontal section taken on the line 55 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a partial vertical section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

Referring to the drawings, the laundry tub stand 5 consists of a pair of side frame members 6a and 6b and a pair of end frame members 7a and 7b. The frame members, 6a and 6b are similar to each other and are arranged in opposing relation to each other in the assembly of the stand 5. Similarly, the frame members 711 and 7b are similar to each other and are arranged in opposing relation to each other in the assembly of the stand as illustrafed in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The side frame members 6a and 6b are formed of sheet material and each consists of a longitudinal member 8 having its lower horizontal edge turned inwards at right angles to form a flange 9 to provide lateral stiffness. The end portions of the member 8 are turned inwards at right angles to form the vertically disposed flanges 10, the lower edge 10a of which is angled upwards as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The lower end portions of the member 8, including the flanges 9 are notched out at 9a for a purpose which will be explained later.

The upper horizontal edge of the members are bent over outwardly, oppositely from the inwardly projection flange 9 to form an extended inverted U shaped hook member 11. This hook member 11 extends to within a short distance of the end flanges If).

The end frame members 7a and 7b are also formed of sheet material and each consists of a longitudinal member 12 having its lower horizontal edge turned inwards at right angles to form a flange 13 to provide lateral stiffness. The end portions of the member 12 are offset inwardly at 14 into a parallel with the plane of the member 12.

Support legs 15 are of right angle section in the horizontal plane to form a pair of vertically disposed members 16 and 17. The end frame members 711 and 7b are secured to the members 16 of the support legs 15 by spot welding as at 18 or by any other suitable type of fastening. The offset end portions 14 of the frame members 7a and 7b form with the adjacent portions of the leg members 16 vertically disposed slots 19 into which the vertically disposed flanges 10 of the frame members 6a and 6b are slidably fitted in the manner shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The offset end portions 14 have their free ends turned outwards at 14a towards adjacent clips 20. An offset, vertically disposed clip 20 has its lower end portion 21 secured to the inward facing surface 17 on the support legs 15. In some applications it will only be necessary to fit the clips 26 to the front pair of legs. The upper portion 22 of the clips are bent outwards at 24 to form guides when the frames 6a, 6b, 7a and 7b are being assembled together.

When the frame members 6a, 6b, 7a and 7b are assembled together with the notched portions 9a resting in the bottom of the slots 23 formed of the clips 20 and the adjacent surfaces of the legs 15, and the hook members 11 resting on the top horizontal edges 25 of the leg members 17, the top horizontal edges 11a of the hook members 11 and the top horizontal edges 26 of the frames 7a and 7b are maintained in the same horizontal plane and, together, form a solid support for the laundry tubs 27 shown in chain dot lines in FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 2 it will be noticed that the frame member 6a extends lower than the frame members 6b, 7a and 7b. The frame member 6a would be considered as forming the front of the stand 5 and its depth would be sufficient Where two or more laundry tubs are to be fitted on the stand the top edges of the front and rear frame members 6:: and 6b are notched out at 28 to accommodate the rolled over edges of the tubs.

What I claim is:

1. A self-locking open rectangular stand adopted to receive and support laundry tubs and the like, the said stand comprising two pairs of opposed frame members formed of sheet material disposed in a vertical plane, a first pair of said frame members being located at right anglesto a second pair of said frame members to form the open rectangular stand, the said first pair of frame members having end portions offset in a plane parallel with the main body of the frames, two pairs of right angled vertically disposed supporting legs, the said pairs of legs each having one right angled member secured to said first pairs of frame members inwardly of said off set portion, the other right angle member of the said legs being projected across the plane ofand spaced from the free ends of the said offset portions of the said first pair of frame members, the second of said pair of frame members having their end portions bent inwardly at right angles to the main body of the frame member, the said right angled end portions adopted for sliding engagement within the space between the adjacent surface of said supporting legs and the said offset portions of the first pairs of frame members, and stop means adopted to maintain the top horizontal edges of the said first and second pairs of frame members in a common plane.

2. A self-locking stand as set forth in claim 1 in which the said stop means includes an inverted U-shaped hook member on the top horizontal edges of the said second pair of frame members, the hook members being bent over outwardly of the frame members and engaging with the top horizontal edge of the adjacent right angle members of said supporting legs.

3. ,A self-locking stand as set forth in claim 1 in which an offset clip is secured to the inward facing surface of one right angle member of the said supporting legs, and the end portions of said second pair of frame members inwardly of their right angled end portions, are seated in the said ofiset clips.

4. A self-locking stand as set forth in claim 3 in which the free end portions of the end offset portions of said first pairs of frame members are out-turned towards the said adjacent oifset clips.

5. A self-locking stand as set forth in claim 1 in which the lower horizontal edges of the said first and second pairs of frame members are turned inwardly to form flanges and the said flanges are notched out adjacent the said otfset portions andrsaid stop means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,597,547 5/1952 Tiberi 248-146 X 3,129,436 4/1964 Mustee 248-146 X 3,187,693 6/1965 Hamilton et al. 108153 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

R. P. SEI'ITER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SELF-LOCKING OPEN RECTANGULAR STAND ADOPTED TO RECEIVE AND SUPPORT LAUNDRY TUBS AND THE LIKE, THE SAID STAND COMPRISING TWO PAIRS OF OPPOSED FRAME MEMBERS FORMED OF SHEET MATERIAL DISPOSED IN A VERTICAL PLANE, A FIRST PAIR OF SAID FRAME MEMBERS BEING LOCATED AT RIGHT ANGLES TO A SECOND PAIR OF SAID FRAME MEMBERS TO FORM THE OPEN RECTANGULAR STAND, THE SAID FIRST PAIR OF FRAME MEMBERS HAVING END PORTIONS OFFSET IN A PLANE PARALLEL WITH THE MAIN BODY OF THE FRAME, TWO PAIRS OF RIGHT ANGLED VERTICALLY DISPOSED SUPPORTING LEGS, THE SAID PAIRS OF LEGS EACH HAVING ONE RIGHT ANGLED MEMBER SECURED TO SAID FIRST PAIR OF FRAME MEMBERS INWARDLY OF SAID OFFSET PORTION, THE OTHER RIGHT ANGLE MEMBER OF THE SAID LEGS BEING PROJECTED ACROSS THE PLANE OF AND SPACED FROM THE FREE ENDS OF THE SAID OFFSET PORTIONS OF THE SAID FIRST 